Interview 25. Taking the Masks Off. Oleksandr Dumyshynets
A Computer Science teacher from Kyiv Oleksandr Dumyshynets tells about how war reveals the innermost sides of human nature and how to encourage the students to join the ranks of the cybertroops.
The war rips the masks off, and brings out the best and the worst in people, something that you wouldn’t even suspect, even if you had been communicating with a person closely for a long time. Oleksandr Dumyshynets, a Computer Science teacher from Kyiv School No. 292, is sure of this. During the war, Mr. Oleksandr saw both the determination and unity of the Ukrainians and the despicable deeds of some people. The current situation has also changed the children, who have become more open and do not hesitate to ask difficult questions. So the teachers should take a step forward and answer the children sincerely and frankly, no matter how hard it may be.
The Main Lesson
The war took off the masks from everyone. February 24th has changed us. The main lesson for me is that no matter how closely you communicate with a person, you don’t know them at all. No matter how open a person is, there is still something hidden, something that no one can see. And the war revealed these hidden sides. Some people turned out to have revealed their strong points, and I began to admire them even more. There are however also regrettable cases when you don’t even want to look in the direction of such a person.
Our Strength
A significant number of Ukrainians in the first few minutes of the war went to the draft boards and organized food, medicines, and evacuation. Before, I had no idea how determined these people are. I remember clearly the example of my classmate from Mukachevo, the owner of a store. From the very first day, she started volunteering, organized a foundation, and collected all possible aid. To do this, she made the most of her blog with a large number of subscribers, and people joined. I did not expect this from her and was very, very pleasantly surprised.
I am proud to call myself a Ukrainian. I am proud of my friends who have been on the front line since the first days. One of them recently returned from the Luhansk region from deployment, and will soon return to the zero line. I am overwhelmed with the sincerest emotions, watching those incredible things that Ukrainians do brings tears to my eyes.
Appalling Sacrilege
The administration of the school where I work used to inspire me, they have done great things for the school. But during the war, I learned that the principal had had a russian passport for five years. And I can’t accept this. I can’t understand a position when the principal of a Ukrainian school, a teacher of History and Civics, accepted a russian passport and became a citizen of the aggressor state. Neither can I accept the fact that our school did not prepare for a possible attack. The principal said: “Why do this? A missile will hit anyway, and we will all die”. This person has a lot of influence because there are about a thousand children in our school. She was trying to persuade the parents of our students to escape the war and leave for Crimea. In the first days of the war, she herself went there, to her relatives, who were publishing photos from various festivities like Crepe Week.
In addition, during the war, she never got in touch with the school staff. It wasn’t until April that the Department of Education fired her from her position. And in July, she returned to Kyiv, and now a court process is ongoing on her reinstatement in office. The worst pain and horror in this situation is that some of the teaching staff support her. I can’t understand what such a person can teach children, what is she doing in education and why is she still in Ukraine. She did not renounce russian citizenship. Behaving like this is a despicable deed.
I can’t understand a position when the principal of a Ukrainian school, a teacher of History and Civics, accepted a russian passport and became a citizen of the aggressor state. And I can’t accept this.
Worst Thing Possible
What each and every one of us feels currently is incomparable to anything. I can’t imagine what could be worse than what is happening to our country. I want this to be a nightmare from which I can wake up and my wife would say: “It’s morning, let’s go to work”.
What Everyone Did
In the first days of the war, my wife, my little daughter, and I were in the subway. Then we went to Zakarpattia Region, where I realized that I couldn’t just sit there. So I wrote to my home school, where I once studied, that I was ready to help. I was invited, and the very next day I came there: we wove camouflage nets and assembled kits for the military. Then I joined a larger initiative and worked at the volunteer headquarters in Mukachevo: I was responsible for the purchase of medicines and other essential goods. I had to look for them, because even in Mukachevo, far from the front line, we also had a commodity shortage. But I wouldn’t say that this was a decent deed – this is what everyone did because we are all fighting for our freedom.
Thing That Gives Strength
My five-year-old daughter constantly remembers February 24th: how we fed her, packed our stuff, took the suitcase, and went to the subway. Every step was etched in her memory. Her smile was my resource.
We did not hide anything from our daughter, we prepared her: we told her what to do when you hear explosions or sirens. When we were in the shelter, she tested these instructions and showed us how to lie down properly during an air raid siren. There was a critical situation once when everyone literally had to fall to the ground. My wife and I were confused, while our daughter lay down quickly, organized herself, and closed her ears. These situations are terrifying and should not happen to children. But children are more sincere, they are sincerely happy or afraid of what is happening around them. My daughter and my wife are my resource thanks to which I can stay strong.
Online vs Offline
Every Tuesday we had an hour of communication in the classroom, we would choose a topic and have a training. On February 22nd, we talked about who the citizens of the world are, how to communicate with friends from different countries, we discussed ties and differences in cultures. After Thursday we actually became the citizens of the world. The children began to leave, and we didn’t conduct lessons. However, we kept in touch in a joint chat room, we were taking roll calls and sending each other funny pictures, thanks to which the children could escape from the situation around.
The “perfect” Covid times allowed us to adapt to distance learning. From September 1st, an offline format that children miss is promised in Kyiv. But my concern is that large schools, where there are 1-1.5 thousand children and teachers, can become living targets for the enemy. Perhaps distance learning would be better for the safety of children because there is no completely safe place in Ukraine yet.
When the educational process resumed throughout school in the spring, I, as a Computer Science teacher, realized that the material the study program had provided before was completely meaningless, useless, and impossible to implement under conditions of war. For even practical tasks had to be performed on computers that the children did not have access to.
My colleague from Irpin, Liudmyla Bulyhina, established a wonderful Cyberinformatics Project, which we joined. We talked with the children about what fake news is and how it is created, and we were analyzing fake photos published in the enemy publics. We would look for the original photo, and find out how and why this fake was created. For instance, the enemy used the photo of the destroyed bridge in Irpin as an illustration of Mariupol, where people want to leave, but the Ukrainian army allegedly does not let them out.
We also talked about security in instant messengers, DDoSed enemy websites, and blocked enemy publics in social networks, because the children wanted to do it. They liked it so much that they even worked weekends. It was true practical work and the children were happy that they can really help. It always inspired me to go online to them, no matter how hard it could be. I believe that these topics now need to be taught in each grade, every year, as a separate unit in the Computer Science course.
Previously, many high school students had the stereotype that they just need to sit Computer Science out. However, the war kindled a strong interest in students in my discipline. According to them, they never thought before that Computer Science could be that interesting. Now, the children and society itself changed their attitude to the mentioned fake news and the consumption of information. I hope that this interest will intensify over time, and education will benefit from it.
It’s crucial to be sincere and open with children, because they are sensitive, and they feel things by heart. It is important to tell them the truth, but also to choose the words carefully so that they do not hurt the children and fit their age. It was far more complex for me than the teaching itself.
The Value of Sincerity
Children have become more open to talking, and need it more today. Before the war and Covid, we also practiced conversations about how have they been since our previous lesson. But there would have always been those who kept silent. Now, during the war, the lessons always began with a conversation, and the children wanted to discuss what they saw and did, what they ate, and how they played with their pets.
Children want to communicate and seek support. They ask complex questions to which the answer can be very bitter. But they want to hear it. Certain boundaries and barriers have disappeared, the children are no longer shy to ask questions, they have become very sincere instead, and do expect the same from us, the teachers. It’s crucial to be sincere and open with children, because they are sensitive, and they feel things by heart. It is important to tell them the truth, but also to choose the words carefully so that they do not hurt the children and fit their age. It was far more complex for me than the teaching itself.
So I think it’s worth holding an EdCamp (un)conference on being sincere in teaching and talking about it with both teachers and students.
The Foundation of Civilization
The educators should not stop, whatever happens. We can see this by what our neighbor is doing, how it is destroying culture and education in Ukraine to destabilize and demoralize us. Uneducated people are very easy to manipulate and control. Educated people have the capability to think critically, they can better understand the situation. Education is hugely important; it is the foundation of everything. No civilized country can exist without education.
Therefore, educators should always keep in touch with their students. If there is no opportunity to teach their students, a teacher can find a role for themselves and work in education in any community. A quality education grows incredible professionals who can rebuild our country and create the best living conditions.
Text — Halyna Kovalchuk.
The interview series My War. The Lessons was prepared with financial support from the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation – a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of EdCamp Ukraine and the Foundation.
